Save You To Save Me {| BuckyBarnes x Reader |}

Chapter Seven

I awake in the bedroom I was staying in.  We're still here.  I glance around.  How long have I been out?  Besides feeling tired, I feel fine.  My head isn't pounding, my body doesn't feel like it's fighting for control, and my mind is clear.  My mind is clear...  Thank God.  I ease myself from the bed, standing slowly.  I check my phone, it's only the next day.  I sigh heavily with relief as I place my phone back onto the nightstand and walk out of the room.  I remember everything from last night, up until actually falling asleep after Charles was finished.  I remember the conversation they had.  I just want to find him.  I round the corner into the kitchen area and find both Bucky and Charles sitting at the island, both frizzled out.  As my eyes meet them, theirs meet mine, and I watch as their expressions change from ones of tiredness and stress to ones of relief and happiness.  Bucky is quick to his feet as I walk over to them.  I wrap my arms around his neck as he wraps his arms around my waist, lifting me into his embrace, making me smile as a quiet chuckle slips past my lips.  I hold onto him tightly, relishing the fact that after 78 years, I'm finally in my blue-eyed soldier's arms.  I did care for Barron.  He and I had a fun connection that I enjoyed, and I'll always miss him.  I carry my nickname as a memorial to him.  What clicked between Bucky and me that night, though, was unlike anything else I had ever felt before or felt since.  It was pure.  It was innocent, and I've longed for it ever since.  No wonder we've gotten so close, so fast.

 "I love you," I whisper as my fingertips begin stroking his hair.  "Since the night in the diner, I've carried you with me this entire time...  It all happened so fast, I wanted to find you that night, but when I went back, everyone had left.  I told myself that if we both survived, I would find you back at the diner when I got home, never knowing that neither of us would get to go back."

I've tracked down as much of my family as I was able to when I finally broke free all those years ago.  I came across a few distant relatives, but everyone that was close to me had already passed on.  I found a memorial for the lives that were lost the night of the attack, and my name was one on the list of those who never came home.  Neither of our families knew what happened to us.  Everyone thought we had been killed.  I think that's the hardest part about all of this, really.  Losing everything you ever knew, ever loved, were familiar with.  He's all I have left.  A beautiful memory that I've carried with me through the years, now a reality.  78 years.

He releases the breath he's been holding as I feel the tension wash away from his shoulders.  "I stayed around that night, hoping to see you again.  I roamed the streets for a while, but I never found you.  I should have told you sooner, Y/N.  I just needed to be sure," he whispers.  "I've carried you with me, wishing I could get back to that fricking diner and see you sitting there, coffee in hand, with your small string of pearls around your neck.  You would smile at me, we would talk, and we would go dancing.  I played it through my head every single night, through all the hell I went through.  Just wanting to get back to that diner."  We pull away slightly as he gently sets me back on the ground.  We both look at each other, now able to see it.  Able to see past all the years of stress, all the scars that have been building up, past the wear and tear.  When I look at him, all I see is that man in the diner.  Young, bright blue eyes, and a smile that could light a room.  He places his hand against my cheek as the same smile forms across his lips.  "I love you, too."  I return his smile as Charles suddenly clears his throat.  I forgot he was even there.

"I think I should probably give you both some privacy," he states as he rises from his stool.

I muffle down a quiet laugh as I take a moment away from Bucky.  I go over to Charles and hug him, knowing I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him.  "I won't ever be able to thank you enough."